


Coffee, Snow, and Mistletoe

by failwolfhale



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: and christmas, and coffee and doughnuts and cute things, and winter festivities, i'm bad at tagging tonight sorry, teacher!Derek, teacher!stiles, there is fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 03:51:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2758529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/failwolfhale/pseuds/failwolfhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“So, if you want, uhm, you and Cora are more than welcome to come over to my place, er, my dad’s place for Christmas dinner this year,” Stiles said almost nervously as he held his wet coat under the hand dryers in the bathroom, glancing at Derek from under his lashes. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee, Snow, and Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SeanConneraille](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeanConneraille/gifts).



> I apologize for this being un-beta'd and I hope you like it!!

Stiles was grumbling angrily to himself as he ran towards the high school from his Jeep. It had stormed during the night and Stiles’ electricity had gone out which meant that his alarm hadn’t woken him on time. Hence, why he was running to make it to his classroom on time before his students came shuffling in with the bell. 

In his rush, Stiles was trying to shove his lesson planner into his bag and he completely forgot about the pothole in the teacher parking lot that they’d been petitioning to have fixed but apparently it wasn't in the budget. Which meant that- 

“Wh- GAH!” Stiles’ arms flailed as his left foot rolled into the pothole and just barely managed to keep from falling over onto the asphalt but his bag did go flying a couple feet away. Of course though, the previous night’s storm made sure that the pothole wasn’t just a pothole. It was a pothole filled with muddy water that now covered Stiles’ entire foot up to his ankle and left his shoe completely soaked and completely disgusting. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Stiles snapped to no one in particular, getting his right foot properly underneath him before he pulled his left from the water-filled hole in the asphalt. 

With his mood even darker than it had been when he got out of the car, Stiles stomped his way up the steps to one of the side doors of the school and wrenched it open. It was now three minutes to the bell and Stiles shoved his way past students, muttering to himself and ignoring the smirks of a few of the seniors in his sixth period AP Microbiology class. Managing to get his key in the lock on his door, Stiles twisted the doorknob open and spilled into his classroom and dropped his bag behind his desk just as the first warning bell went off. 

Turning to his computer, his bad mood fell away and a grin replaced his scowl as his eyes fell on the sighed of a cup of steaming coffee from his favorite coffee shop and what smelled like a warm cream cheese danish in a little paper sleeve sitting right next to his mouse. He reached out to take off the blue post-it note stuck to the cup with familiar handwriting scrawled across it. 

_I figured you would forget breakfast after all those beers last night so I brought your favorite. Lunch in the courtyard? -D_

Stiles would normally take the coffee and meander down to the history hallway which was around the corner from the science hallway. He’d sit on the middle desk in the front row of Derek’s classroom and tease Derek but thank him for the coffee, bicker before the bells rang. But as it was, the final bell rang as Stiles peeked into the pastry bag and the door to his classroom shut with the last student shuffling in. 

“Alright, class,” Stiles said loudly, tearing off a piece of the danish and shoving it into his mouth obnoxiously. “This is my favorite class of the year because I get to say,” he put on his best deep British accent and glare, “turn to page three hundred and ninety four!” 

\--  
The morning passed as it usually did and outside the windows the clouds got thicker and darker so by the time lunch came around it was pouring cats and dogs which meant no lunch in the courtyard. Stiles grabbed his lunch pack and the coffee cup he refilled during his planning period and went to find Derek because Finstock and the lacrosse team were shuffling in to borrow Stiles’ lab for a study hall since they couldn’t have practice. 

Derek met him halfway between their classrooms to inform him that a TA had asked to borrow his room so they would have to eat in the teacher’s lounge. Which is why Stiles found himself sinking into the uncomfortable blue melamine chairs at the linoleum table next to Derek, both of them opening their lunch boxes and pulling stuff out. 

Braeden, the new ROTC Senior Army instructor, was standing at the counter by the microwave warming up her leftover spaghetti and was about to say hi to her coworkers when they spoke first but not to her. 

“Here, Derek, I brought you an extra orange because you said you weren’t getting enough vitamin C the other day,” Stiles said, digging things out of his lunch sack and handing Derek two Halo clementines. 

“Thanks, oh I got you an oatmeal cookie from the vending machine because I know they’re your favorite and it was the last one,” Derek responded, flicking a plastic wrapped cookie across the table. 

“Cool, can I have that Snack Pack too?” 

“Yea. I brought an extra. Gimme that trail mix. You hate trail mix.” 

“I know. My neighbor gave it to me and I didn’t wanna be rude. Here.” 

“Thanks. Want half of my sandwich?” 

“Sure, but only if you take half of mine.” 

Braeden watched with amusement in her eyes as they swapped sandwich halves - it looked like Derek had peanut butter and Stiles had something with avocado. She didn’t think those two things really went together even if they were in separate halves of a sandwich. Still, it was cute and she didn’t know administration let teachers date each other. It was something to file away for later since she’d been wondering about the other ROTC instructor for the lower classmen. 

“That’s so cool. I didn’t know that administration allowed that,” Braeden commented as she took her spaghetti from the microwave and stirred her fork in it, glancing at another teacher who was pulling something from the community fridge. 

Stiles looked up from his food and gave Braeden a strange look. “Of course they allow it. Why wouldn’t they? It’s our food, we can share it if we want to,” he told her and for a moment she thought he was joking but his expression was completely serious. Derek was nodding alongside him and both were looking at her like she was from another planet. 

She opened her mouth to say no, she meant them dating, but the other teacher just shook her head and looked exasperated so Braeden didn’t bother. “Oh,” she said with a nod, brows furrowed. “Of course. Yea.” 

\--

The next morning, Derek pulled into the teacher’s parking lot at seven oh five on the dot just like he always did and he saw that Stiles was just getting out of his Jeep two spaces down. He grinned to himself as he pulled his satchel from the passenger’s seat of his truck and fell easily into step next to Stiles. This was their normal routine and he took the hot cup of coffee that Stiles offered without a word, handing over the bag of Stiles’ favorite apple glazed doughnut holes from the doughnut shop that was underneath Derek’s second story walk up. 

“Thanks,” Stiles hummed around the lid of his cup, grinning to himself as they headed inside. “Meet back at yours?” 

“Sure,” Derek agreed and they parted ways in the hall to go to their respective classrooms. 

Stiles unlocked his door and dropped his stuff behind his desk, shoving a doughnut hole into his mouth and trying not to think of how Derek always smelled faintly like sugar from the doughnut shop that he lived over. He got everything ready for his first and second period classes that he would need, setting out petri dishes at each lab table and checking the bunsen burner at the third lab table from the front on the left that was having trouble the last time. It came out without much prompting and Stiles made a mental note to keep an eye on the students during class as he switched it off and moved on. 

When he was done, he got his things together and headed for Derek’s room, humming Christmas carols under his breath. He turned into the classroom to see Erica, the school nurse, leaning with her hip against Derek’s desk and begging for something judging by her face. Stiles edged into the room just in time to hear her. 

“Derek, the Winter Wonderland Festival is like, a staple in this town. You have to go! Blake will be so disappointed if you don’t,” she argued, pouting at Derek and widening her golden eyes. 

“Yea, Derek, you have to go,” Stiles added with a grin as he sauntered the rest of the way in and hopped up to sit on the other side of Derek’s desk from Erica. “I’ll be there. My grams is coming into town this weekend for Christmas and she wants to go.” 

Derek hesitated and glanced at Erica who was smirking with raised brows, a smug expression like she knew that he was gonna cave. And dammit she was right. He sighed and nodded, shrugging his shoulders as he took a bite of his own plain glazed doughnut. “Alright fine. I’ll go. But I’m not staying for too long. I hate crowds and I hate the cold,” he said with a huff. 

Stiles beamed and Erica made kissy faces at Derek behind Stiles’ back so Derek flicked her off when Stiles was occupied with brushing doughnut crumbs from his pants. 

\--

Derek trudged reluctantly through the snow that had accumulated on the ground. Gone was the slushy rain as the temperatures dropped to the low twenties and fluffy little white snowflakes drifted down like someone had pulled off the ends of cotton swabs and was sprinkling them over town. The only thing that brightened Derek’s mood was spotting Stiles several yards away wrapped warmly in a big jacket and ear muffs but sans a scarf or gloves. His cheeks and nose were red and his cherry lips were pulled into a wide grin as he talked animatedly to Caroline, his god daughter. 

“Hey, Derek,” Scott said when he spotted the other man, grinning brightly and waving with the hand that wasn’t holding onto his wife’s. 

“Hey, Scott, hey, Allison,” Derek greeted with an easy smile of his own, eyes drifting to Stiles again who had now taken notice of him. “Hey, Stiles, Caroline.” 

“Hi, Derek!” Caroline chirped in that soft high voice that only five year old girls seemed to be able to reach. 

“Derek,” Stiles responded brightly, his cheery mood reflected in his tone as he stood up straighter, shoving hands into the pockets of his coat. 

“Where’s your grams? I thought she was going to be here,” Derek asked and watched the way Stiles’ broad shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. 

“She fell in love with your sister and Isaac and whisked them away to who knows where. Apparently she would see enough of me in her visit. And my dad was waylaid by some guys from the station. They’re probably a couple beers in by now. Where’s Erica?” Stiles answered, shifting towards Derek but looking around. 

“I’m here!” a voice called from behind them before Derek could answer and Stiles turned to see Erica and Boyd approaching with their son, Blake, between them holding their hands and swinging along. 

“Hey, buddy!” Stiles chirped happily when he spotted Blake and Blake grinned a gapped smile at Stiles. 

“I lost my tee’f today!” Blake announced excitedly, pointing to the two empty spots at the very front of his mouth. 

“Woah, cool,” Stiles grinned and moved out of the way so Caroline could rush over and examine. 

“I see you showed, Derek,” Erica commented with a smirk as she took her husband’s hand in her own so she could shift closer to his warmth. 

“Of course he did,” Stiles interrupted, looping his arm through Derek’s dramatically. “He promised.” 

“I did promise,” Derek said with a nod, glancing at Stiles from the corner of his eyes and grinning to himself. 

“Mr. Blake’s Dad Boyd,” Caroline interrupted politely, tugging on the edge of Boyd’s jacket and looking up at him through her long lashes. She looked just like Allison the way she widened her brown eyes and let her dark curls spill down her back. “Can Blake come wi’ff us to right the carousel?” 

“Of course. That’s fine with me,” Boyd told her with a warm smile, reaching to ruffle her hair playfully. 

“Oo, I love the carousel! I want to go too,” Erica said happily. “Can we come too, Care?” 

“Yeah! My mama and daddy said they’d take us so we can all go together,” Caroline beamed, reaching a red mittened hand out to slip into Scott’s. 

“Awh, but we were gonna go ride the Ferris wheel,” Stiles complained with a little pout as plans were made around him. He’d been scared of the carousel ever since he was a kid and he fell off of one but he’d never admit it. Scott always made fun of him for it and was currently smirking like the cat who got the cream. 

“The kids aren’t tall enough for the Ferris wheel yet, though,” Allison said reluctantly, smiling apologetically at Stiles. “Maybe Derek will take you.” 

Stiles turned his brown eyes to Derek and Derek was helpless but to say yes. “Yeah, of course I’ll go,” he said without a second’s pause. 

“Sweet! We’ll meet up with you guys later then. C’mon, Der,” Stiles said excitedly, tugging on Derek’s arm and heading for the giant Ferris wheel that had been erected in the very center of the town square where the festival was being held. 

Derek hadn’t even considered his fear of heights until he was standing with Stiles at the front of the line for the Ferris wheel and being shuffled forward to the next bench seat that was stopped at the bottom. Derek gave a moment’s pause but Stiles was moving for the seat excitedly and Derek could do nothing but follow. He sat gingerly down on the thankfully sturdy feeling bench and pulled the seat belt on, tightening it as much as he could. The ride operator came to pull the metal bar down across their laps and secure it before moving back to the controls. 

Derek’s breath hitched in his throat as the Ferris wheel jerked to a start and they started to move backwards and up around the wheel at a leisurely pace. He gripped his gloved hands over the metal bar and took a deep breath, glancing at Stiles who was leaning excitedly over the edge as they rose higher. 

“Derek?” Stiles asked when he finally glanced back to see Derek sitting tensely in his seat. “Are you okay?” 

“Yep. Never been better,” Derek said unconvincingly, swallowing thickly and refusing to look down. 

“Why do you look scared out of your mind then? Are- are you afraid of heights?” Stiles’ eyes widened and Derek was relieved not to see any sort of mockery in them but worry instead. 

“Maybe. Yes. It’s fine though. I’m fine,” he promised, prying his fingers free of the bar and reaching to pat Stiles’ thigh. 

Stiles opened his mouth to say something as they neared the top but of course, this being Derek’s luck, the Ferris wheel shuddered almost delicately and then stopped. Seeing the way Derek’s eyes widened, Stiles reached over and grabbed his arm. “Hey, Derek, it’s okay. It stops at the top sometimes to let people off at the bottom. It’s totally fine. Look just...here. Look up at the sky with me. Let’s look for constellations,” Stiles suggested, nudging frozen fingers under Derek’s chin so that Derek was looking up at the sky instead. It did make him feel a little better but…

“Stiles. It’s snowing and cloudy. There’s no constellations to be seen right now,” he said in a surprisingly calm voice but he kept his eyes fixed to the clouds and the furthest point up that he could make out individual snowflakes falling. 

“Well, count the snowflakes then,” Stiles insisted, shifting closer to Derek on the bench seat so they were pressed firmly together from knee to hip to shoulder, Stiles’ hand still gripping his arm. 

Derek took a deep breath and rolled his eyes but he counted snowflakes with Stiles until they reached one hundred and thirty eight and their bench finally came back down to the beginning and stopped to let them off. 

“Thank God,” Derek muttered as he stumbled out of the seat and back onto solid ground. 

Stiles patted Derek’s arm and had the good grace not to laugh at him. “Come on, buddy. I’ll go buy you some hot chocolate,” he suggested magnanimously and Derek was not about to turn him down. 

They were ambling along among the booths after getting their hot chocolate, waving hello to people they saw - Stiles was doing this more than Derek - when Stiles suddenly had the idea to press his frozen fingers against Derek’s perfectly warm neck with a bright bubble of laughter. Derek jumped and shoved Stiles back and Stiles stumbled before falling into a snowbank two feet away, dropping his hot chocolate on the ground. Derek froze for a split second and then burst into loud laughter before he could stop it, practically bending over double with how hard he was laughing. People turned to stare and Stiles pulled himself out of the snowbank with a laugh of his own, shoving at Derek and holding his arms out to his sides. 

“Man, now I’m soaked and freezing and my hot chocolate is on the ground,” he complained, pouting at Derek and jutting his lower lip out. 

“I’m sorry but you startled me,” Derek apologized as the laughter fizzled out but he was still grinning. “C’mon. I’ll buy you a new hot chocolate and we can go blow dry you under the hand dryers in the bathroom.” 

Stiles huffed but he let Derek drag him back to the hot chocolate booth and then to the bathrooms. 

“So, if you want, uhm, you and Cora are more than welcome to come over to my place, er, my dad’s place for Christmas dinner this year,” Stiles said almost nervously as he held his wet coat under the hand dryers in the bathroom, glancing at Derek from under his lashes. 

“I- really? I don’t want to intrude on your Christmas,” Derek said uncertainly, chewing the inside of his lower lip. 

“You wouldn’t be!” Stiles assured him hastily and his cheeks flushed as he shrugged. “I mean, Scott and Allison and Caroline will be over obviously because Scott’s my step brother and Allison’s dad will be there and Melissa cuz she married _my_ dad. Isaac will come because he doesn’t have any other family. Lydia would normally be there but she’s out of the country with her fiance and Danny is in London visiting Jackson. So just...come. If you want.” 

Derek paused and he just studied Stiles for a second after his little rant but his lips curled up at the corners and he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll tell Cora. I’m sure she’d love it,” he agreed and it was worth it just to see the way Stiles’ eyes lit up. 

\--

Derek arrived nervously on Stiles’ father’s doorstep at exactly four o’clock with Cora next to him telling him to relax. He scowled at her, checked his watch one more time, and then rang the doorbell. She muttered something to herself but Derek didn’t catch it because the door was swinging open and Stiles was beaming at him from inside. 

“Hey, guys!” Stiles said excitedly, stepping aside and waving them in as he dried his hands on a dish cloth. “I’m so glad you could make it. Come on in. It’s freezing outside.” 

“Thanks for having us. We brought some cookies and things,” Derek responded as he and Cora stepped in with their arms loaded down in cookie tins and haphazardly wrapped gifts. Neither of them were very good with wrapping paper. 

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that! You only had to bring yourselves, but thank you,” Stiles said, his smile widening as he took the cookie tins from Cora and accepted her kiss on the cheek. “Cora, my grams has been asking for you. She’s in the kitchen.” 

Cora beamed and swept out of the foyer to go find Stiles’ grams who had taken a real shining to Cora the night of the Winter Wonderland Festival. 

“I’m really glad you came,” Stiles added gently just for Derek, blinking at him shyly and then jumping when he realized he forgot to take Derek’s coat. “Sorry, uhm you can hang your coat there on the rack if you like. Let me go set these cookies down. Come get some cider, everyone else is through here.” 

“Were we late? I’m sorry,” Derek apologized with a little crease between his brows as he hung up his coat and Stiles mentioned everyone else being there already. He should have realized that the cars all parked out front were for Stiles’ house and not a neighbor’s. 

“No no, it’s totally fine. Scott and Allison always come over in the morning and Caroline likes to help me make the food and Melissa lives here obviously. Chris gets here even before them to help my dad with the Christmas ham and, well, anyways. No, you aren’t late,” Stiles answered with a blush and a shrug, waving Derek to follow him through to the dining room where he set out the cookies on the buffet with the other assortment of pies and even a cheesecake. 

“Okay. If you say so,” Derek agreed with a shrug, looking around the home Stiles must have grown up in and following him to the kitchen which was surprisingly large. Everyone was doing something and Derek was quickly swept up into the frenzy of getting everything ready for dinner. 

\--

Later in the evening, after everyone had eaten and exchanged gifts in the family room, Derek slipped out of the warm house to the back porch for some fresh air. Inside the house it was warm and glowing; a fire had been started in the hearth, Erica and Boyd had arrived with Blake in tow, eggnog had been passed around - non-alcoholic for the kids, Stiles’ dad was passed out with his arm around Melissa, Chris was talking to Isaac about work, Scott was playing with Caroline and Blake and their new Christmas toys, and Cora was talking animated with Allison. It was so much like home and family and the things that Derek and Cora had been missing out on the last few years since their family had died in a tragic fire. 

Derek looked down at the watch that was now gracing his wrist. It was a vintage Rolex Oyster with a charcoal colored alligator strap that must have cost Stiles way too much money. It had been on display in the pawn shop and Derek had been envying it for months but he never went in because he knew he couldn’t afford it. He was still putting Cora through her last year of college. He was touching a finger to the shining face when the door behind him opened and someone stepped out with him. 

“Hey, what’re you doing out here?” Stiles asked as he came to lean against the porch railing next to Derek, offering a steaming mug of hot chocolate and clutching one himself.

“Thanks. I just needed some fresh air,” Derek answered as he accepted the mug and glanced over. A warm, content feeling spread through him as he saw Stiles was wearing the red scarf and mittens Derek had made him. 

“Gets a little stuffy in there sometimes,” Stiles hummed in agreement, grinning as he sipped from his chocolately and then wiggled his fingers. “I still can’t believe you actually _knit me a scarf and mittens_.” 

Derek blushed fiercely and looked away, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry. I just- I noticed you didn’t have any at the festival and I thought you could use them. Kind of dumb compared to the watch you got me. You really didn’t have to and I can get you something else,” he said shyly but Stiles was already shaking his head. 

“Are you kidding me? No way, man. I love this scarf _and_ my mittens. No one has ever knitted me anything before. Not even my grams. This is seriously cool and...and really freaking sweet of you actually. Red is my favorite color,” Stiles admitted and when Derek looked over his cheeks were red but it must have just been from the cold. 

“I know,” Derek mumbled, looking at Stiles through his lashes. 

Stiles turned to look back at Derek and his breath hitched slightly at how close they were. There was a tense moment of quiet before a strong gust of wind blew and something moved above them that caught both of their attention. They looked up at the same time to notice the sprig of mistletoe hanging from the porch with a bit of cheery red ribbon. Derek’s cheeks flamed and he looked back down to see that Stiles had shifted closer and was looking straight at him. 

“You don’t have to,” Derek offered quietly but Stiles just rolled his eyes and grabbed Derek’s jacket and the next thing Derek knew, Stiles’ mouth was covering his. 

It was a bit of a mess at first, all clacking teeth and awkward angles, but Stiles managed to get his wits about him and righted them. He tilted his chin up and Derek’s down and found the perfect angle and then it was just _good_. Derek curled fingers around Stiles’ hips and drew him closer, eyes sliding shut as their cold noses brushed. Stiles laughed softly against Derek’s mouth but didn’t pull away just yet. Not until- 

“GO UNCLE STILES!” a muffled voice called and they broke apart to see that Caroline and Blake were peering through the window and giggling. 

Stiles laughed as well and buried his face against Derek’s neck as Allison came to shoo the children away from the window, shutting the curtains but not before winking at them. Derek was still blushing but he couldn’t wipe the smile from his face as he slid his arms around Stiles’ waist. Inside, someone started up a round of off-key Christmas carols, the wind whistled through the trees, and Stiles’ nose was warm on Derek’s neck. 

“Merry Christmas, Derek,” Stiles mumbled quietly, pulling back to kiss Derek again softly. 

“Merry Christmas, Stiles,” Derek responded on a soft whisper and he grinned against Stiles’ mouth.


End file.
